Jeffrey Feltman, the UN under-secretary-general for political affairs, is scheduled to visit Ukraine early next week in a bid to support UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s efforts to seek a peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian crisis, a UN spokesman said here Friday.”Feltman, in an effort to support the secretary-general’s good offices to assist in finding a peaceful resolution of the crisis in Ukraine, will travel to Kiev Dec 16 and 17 for consultations with senior officials,” Stephane Dujarric said at a daily news briefing.

The visit of the UN political chief comes just a few days after the trip of the UN assistant secretary-general for human rights, Ivan Simonovic, who is currently in Ukraine to assess the human rights situation in the country.

During his visit, Simonovic is scheduled to meet a number of Ukrainian government officials as well as civil society actors, the official said, adding that he is also scheduled to visit the eastern region of the country.

The visits by the two senior UN officials take place one week after Ukrainian forces suspended hostilities against independence-seeking insurgents in the country’s eastern region.

The armed conflict in eastern Ukraine, which began in mid-April, has claimed at least 4,350 lives and wounded more than 10,000 others, according to the latest UN estimates.

The bill “The Ukraine Freedom Support Act” that was approved by the both houses of the U.S. Congress with no debate and proper voting cannot but produce deep regret by its overly confrontational contents. Once again Washington is presenting unfounded, sweeping accusations and is threatening us with new sanctions. At the same time one puts in the same bag the Ukrainian and Syrian crises, in the fomenting of which the U.S. had a hand, and even the INF Treaty while the adherence to the document of Washington raises questions – saying the least of it. Herewith one promises to provide the Kiev government with weapons to continue the military operation in the Donbass region and straightforwardly announce the intention to use non-governmental organizations to influence internal political processes in our country.
It would seem that the serious challenges for the international security demand the joint efforts of Russia and the U.S. Meanwhile the American lawmakers following the administration of Barack Obama work hard to destroy the backbone of cooperation. The powerful mine similar to the notorious Jackson-Vanick amendment that was adopted in 1974 and was hindering the cooperation for several decades is laid under the bilateral relations. We are beginning to think that Washington cannot refuse to abandon outdated phobias and wants to turn back time.
It is time for the members of the Congress to abandon their illusions on the efficacy of sanctions in their heated campaign against Russia. We will not submit to blackmail. We will not cede our national interests. And we will not tolerate interference in our internal affairs.

We paid attention to the remarks made by the U.S. high-ranking officials during the Congress hearing on December 10, 2014 regarding the U.S. plans to apply measures of economic and military pressure to Russia over alleged violations of the INF Treaty by the Russian side.
It is regretful that Washington continues to follow the logic of confrontation. Our attitude to the U.S. practice of sanctions is well-known: we consider such unilateral restrictions to be illegitimate and we are not going to obey the U.S. diktat. As for the possible military steps, that the U.S. representatives hinted on, they would only add tensions to the already complicated situation. It is unlikely to strengthen the security of the U.S. and their allies that was discussed at the hearings.
It is worth noting that while announcing such threats the U.S. cannot distinctly formulate what claims do they have and stubbornly decline to definitive their accusations. At the same time the U.S. do not provide satisfactory answers to our justified and substantive counterclaims. This applies to ballistic missile targets which are similar to short and medium-ranged rockets, to the American unmanned combat aircraft that obviously fall within the definition of the ground-launched cruise missile and to the intention to deploy ground mode of the sea-launched cruise missile «MK-41» in Poland and Romania which is able to launch medium-ranged cruise missile.
We are still convinced that threats are not the best means to deal with the problems that may arise in the context of adhering to the Treaty. We are going to act on this basis. We call on the U.S. side to do the same.

MAJOR DIFFERENCES BETWEEN HOUSE AND SENATE VERSIONS:

1 (I) manufactures or sells defense 2 articles transferred into Syria or into 3 the territory of a specified country 4 without the consent of the inter5 nationally recognized government of 6 that country;

‘‘specified country’’ means— 3 (i) Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova; 4 and 5 (ii) any other country designated by 6 the President as a country of significant 7 concern for purposes of this subsection, 8 such as Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Esto9 nia, and the Central Asia republics.

If the President determines that 19 Gazprom is withholding significant natural gas sup20 plies from member countries of the North Atlantic 21 Treaty Organization, or further withholds significant 22 natural gas supplies from countries such as Ukraine, 23 Georgia, or Moldova,

15 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Sec16 retary of State $20,000,000

18 SEC. 10. EXPANDED BROADCASTING IN COUNTRIES OF THE 19 FORMER SOVIET UNION.

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be 25 appropriated $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 35 MRW14623 S.L.C. 1 2015 through 2017

United Nations, Dec 13, 2014: Jeffrey Feltman, the UN under-secretary-general for political affairs, is scheduled to visit Ukraine early next week in a bid to support UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s efforts to seek a peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian crisis, a UN spokesman said here Friday.

“Feltman, in an effort to support the secretary-general’s good offices to assist in finding a peaceful resolution of the crisis in Ukraine, will travel to Kiev Dec 16 and 17 for consultations with senior officials,” Stephane Dujarric said at a daily news briefing.

The visit of the UN political chief comes just a few days after the trip of the UN assistant secretary-general for human rights, Ivan Simonovic, who is currently in Ukraine to assess the human rights situation in the country.

During his visit, Simonovic is scheduled to meet a number of Ukrainian government officials as well as civil society actors, the official said, adding that he is also scheduled to visit the eastern region of the country.

The visits by the two senior UN officials take place one week after Ukrainian forces suspended hostilities against independence-seeking insurgents in the country’s eastern region.

The armed conflict in eastern Ukraine, which began in mid-April, has claimed at least 4,350 lives and wounded more than 10,000 others, according to the latest UN estimates.